Salburua Nature Interpretation Center: Structural Analysis

The Salburúa Nature Interpretation Center flies over recently reclaimed wetlands, putting the visitors in a privileged place. To get visitors to this location a cantilevered truss, composed of wood and steel, is utilized.

The structure of the cantilever is extremely clear, resulting from the architects’ goal to reduce any additional layers that could potentially hide the beautiful Nordic wood. As a result visitors can not only see the large wood members tapering as compression forces decrease, but also the number of steel rods increasing as tension forces increase.

When each bay is equipped with an equal number of rubber bands, in the structural model, the “cantilever” lies lifeless, unable to support even its own weight.

Doubling and Tripling rubber bands, according to where tensile forces are the greatest, allow this model to not only hold itself upright, but also to clearly demonstrate the accumulation of forces around the cantilever’s moment support.